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I was terrified before the judges - Hopeson Adorye

Hopeson Adoryeh

Fri, 16 Aug 2013 Source: peacefmonline

“I can’t describe what I was going through when I stood in the witness box; it was terrifying to stand before the judges, and it does not matter how mighty you can be but before the judges you are nobody,” Hopeson Adorye admitted when he stood before the nine Justices adjudicating on the 2012 election petition.

According to him, he knew the gravity of his case before the Supreme Court, but tension mounted when the Presiding Judge, Justice William Atuguba, charged the General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, whom he stood trial with for criminal contempt.

Stressing on his fate in the box, he said on Okay FM in an interview that, the criminal contempt which the Supreme Court slammed the NPP General Secretary with raised his conviction that the ‘Gari’ and other personal items which he had bought in readiness was going to be used in prison.

“I had my “Gari”, “Shito”, toothpaste and sponge in ready should in case there was going to be a jail sentence; but when my General Secretary was fined, I said that God let that grace fall on me. Though I did not have money on me to pay the fine, there was hope that the money would have been paid even if P.C Appiah-Ofori had not paid the fines for us,” he confessed.

He further revealed that his case with the Supreme Court has shown that democracy has been advanced in the country; explaining that all the various political parties at the Supreme Court proffered their solidarities to encourage as they stood trial.

He averred that this case has also demonstrated that the country has gone pass the era of violence in politics; in that, members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) were prepared to assist Sir John and Hopeson Adorye to pay the fines.

He, therefore, acknowledged the leniency of the Supreme Court judges as they did not exercise their powerful arms of the law to imprison them; adding that their release was made possible due to the exceptional performance of Lawyer Nii Ayikoi Otoo.

Hopeson Adorye again showered blessings of God on the Anti-Corruption Crusader and former MP for Asikuma Odoben-Brakwa, P.C Appiah-Ofori, for coming out voluntarily to pay the fines slammed on the sons of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The Supreme Court fined Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, the General Secretary of the NPP and Hopeson Adorye who is a member of the communication team of the party a tune of Ghc 5,000 and Ghc 2,000 respectively for their contemptuous statements.

Source: peacefmonline